Bonding
by lordtrayus
Summary: The day after Piper finds out about Chris, Paige decides to enlist Victor's help in getting them to talk to each other, while Piper asks Grams for help on what to do about the son she has been mistreating. A bit of Phoebe bashing included. Enjoy!


**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed**

Bonding

Piper entered the kitchen, the day after her sisters had dropped on her the not so insignificant fact that their Whitelighter, Chris, was actually her future son.

She couldn't believe it. The secretive, shady guy from the future, who all the time had insisted he was only trying to help, only trying to protect Wyatt...was actually Wyatt's little brother, her little boy. The boy she had barely tolerated, the boy she had snarled at when he had said he just wanted to help, the one who she had thrown across the room because he refused to give her back her family, not knowing he was also her family...was her son. The boy she had thrown out of the house, the house he had most likely grown up in, the boy she had said she didn't want to see again...Chris...was her son.

Piper knew now that she should have seen it coming. He had his father's eyes, but aside from that he was pure Piper. He had her smile, her stubbornness and her determination. He had come back here to protect Wyatt, stop him from turning evil, when anyone else from this terrible future would have killed her baby. And despite everything...he still cared about them. He was her little soldier. He had come back, her beautiful little boy had come back from the future, in order to try and save his family. He was her son, in everything but his eyes...determined to protect his family, keep it together, determined to keep trying no matter what the odds...no matter what they had thrown at him.

Guilt ripped through her every minute. She had never wanted him around. She had forced him away time and again. When he had first arrived, she had told him to go back to the future where he belonged and had been harsh and horrible to him, when he had just been trying to save his family. As time had gone on, she had barely tolerated his presence, the boy she blamed for Leo leaving, the boy she blamed for the collapse of her marriage, the boy who was always concerned about the next demon while she tried to live her life. And then, as things had gone on, even when he had proved time and again that he was on their side, that he wanted just to help them and be accepted by them...she had pushed him away. She had thrown her own son out of the house, just because he had finally told him the truth about why he had come back. She had told him that she didn't want to see him again. She wondered just how much she had hurt her son with everything that she had done.

And then, there had been yesterday. He had appeared in the doorway just after Phoebe and Paige had told her about him. And the noise she had made...like a cat being strangled and trodden on at the same time as he had announced his presence...the look on his face had told her everything she had needed to know. The look of hurt and sadness on his face, the look of total dejection by his mother, even though that wasn't true, had broken her heart, and she had a horrible feeling that he thought the tears in her eyes were because she now knew the truth and that she didn't like it. He had orbed out, leaving a very cold and awkward atmosphere in his wake, in which Piper howled for him to return, but he hadn't responded.

How much had she hurt her son? How much had she hurt her little boy?

"Chris?" she called hopefully as she poured herself some much needed coffee.

She hadn't slept a wink last night. She had been too busy worrying about Chris, both the one she had and the one who was in the midst of being created inside her body. How could she tell Leo this? How could she cope with two little boys? But more to the point...how the hell did she begin to repair her relationship with her son after she had been so bitter to him, especially when he thought that she hadn't liked the truth, and even more so when he wouldn't come to her?

"Chris?" she called again, but there was still no reply.

Piper heaved an exhausted sigh.

"He hates me. My own son hates me." She muttered to herself sadly.

"I don't think he does." Paige commented lightly, orbing in behind her, and making Piper jump in fright.

"Paige!" she snapped angrily, as she got a cloth to clean up some of the coffee she had just sloshed over the side of the cup.

"Sorry sweetie. But for what it's worth, I don't think he hates you." She said, and Piper looked at her desperately.

"Then why won't he talk to me? He won't answer me at all, I just want to talk to him...and after that noise I made yesterday he probably thinks I'm not happy that he is my son, which is wrong, the only thing I'm not happy with is how we've all treated him. I might as well have locked him in the cupboard under the stairs!" she said hysterically.

Paige looked at her kindly and patted her hand.

"First off, it was Harry Potter's aunt and uncle that did that, not his mother. And we all treated him badly, because we didn't trust him." She said gently.

Piper shook her head.

"Yeah, maybe, but didn't he keep proving that he was on our side? Yeah, fair enough, the way he went about it sometimes didn't do him any favours, but the way we treated him, all the time...from day one I wanted him out of my life, out of our lives. And now I find out the reason he did all of this was to stop his big brother turning evil, to try and save his family...and we made it harder for him! His own family, we acted like we despised him...no wonder he doesn't want to talk to me." Piper said sadly, tears forming in her eyes.

Paige didn't know what to do. It wasn't as if they could even take him a peace offering to try and get him to talk to them, because aside from the fact that he was Piper's son, his name and that he was a bit neurotic and very focused on his mission, they knew next to nothing about him. In hindsight, Paige too was feeling slightly sickened with herself. They had treated him as little more than a bit of furniture, and one that they wanted rid of at that. But they had to try to get him to talk to Piper.

"We will get him to talk to you Piper. He just needs time." She said.

Piper looked at her sister sadly.

"Yeah, time...time to come to terms with the fact that he thinks his own mother and his aunts hate him! He must have thought I was disgusted when he saw me yesterday..." she pouted.

"Well, aren't you a teeny bit?" Phoebe asked as she came in, and Piper's eyes flashed.

Paige saw this and hoped to hell someone would instantly create a nuclear bunker right in front of her because she could feel that this would get ugly, and she had a suspicion taking cover would be her best policy.

"What?" Piper bit out furiously.

Phoebe took a step back, and Paige saw that she was regretting saying anything. Piper may have only known about her son for about twelve hours, but she had gone from barely tolerating of his presence to defending mother in that time.

"Well...I'm just saying, that you could maybe be forgiven for being a bit disgusted..." Phoebe said awkwardly, and Paige winced, because subtlety was definitely not her sister's strong point.

Because the way it was coming across was that Phoebe was disgusted, and she didn't want to be disgusted alone.

Piper glared at her sister.

"Well I'm not disgusted Phoebe...well not at the fact that he's my son anyway. Disgusted at how we've treated him, yes. But...something tells me you _are _disgusted by your nephew. So spill it. What's your problem with him?" she demanded.

Phoebe looked worried, and Paige could well see why. Piper looked murderous.

"It's just he's done so much stuff...breaking up you and Leo, manipulating us, lying to us all this time when he could have just told us who he was, and even then he ignored me when I found out a month ago who he was..."

Paige shot her a dirty look.

"He did all of that to save his family, and so far it's worked pretty well I reckon. And besides, you can see that he didn't want to break them up, he always looks so sad when it's mentioned, especially as we keep rubbing it in that he did it!" she snapped.

Phoebe was about to give an incensed retort, when Piper stood in front of her.

"Wait, you knew last _month_?" she demanded furiously.

Phoebe stopped short, backing off under Piper's furious gaze. Paige too looked slightly concerned. Paige had only known for two weeks, and Phoebe had known for four? She couldn't see this ending well...

"Um, yeah...why?" Phoebe asked, looking slightly worried.

"You knew for a month that I had another kid and you didn't tell me?" she demanded furiously.

"He didn't want me to tell you! And I thought it would be a bit weird, telling you that the guy we've been mistreating is actually your son from the future, I didn't want to upset you!"

"Oh...so not telling me that Chris was my son until he might not have been born because of me and Leo until yesterday didn't do that? I see, well _thank you_ for your concern!" Piper yelled.

Phoebe shook her head angrily.

"Wait a minute, why am I being made into the bad guy? We were all perfectly happy until he showed up, and look at all the lies he's told! Wyatt turning evil? He's just a little baby! Who decides to change time just because his big brother picked on him? If I'd done that, you and Prue would never have been around!" she shouted.

The food processor then blew up making them Paige and Phoebe shriek in surprise.

"I refuse to believe that. Yes, I don't want to believe that Wyatt turns evil, but I trust Chris enough to know that if I am his mom like you pair say, then I would have raised him properly and he would never have come back here if he had had any other choice. I don't want to think that Wyatt turns evil, but I will not believe that Chris came here just for the sake of it. And if he put up with everything we've hit him with and still not gone home, that makes me think he must prefer this place to there, so it must be really bad, meaning he must have a very good reason for coming here! And don't you dare say anything to him!" Piper snarled and stormed from the kitchen

"Piper, I am not the bad guy, it's not my fault he's turned everything upside down on us! This isn't my fault! And Paige was disgusted by him too!" Phoebe said as they ran after her, and Paige glared at Phoebe as they did so.

"Oh no, don't you dare rope me into this!" she yelled, but it was too late, as Piper had turned with a thunderous expression on her face.

"Oh, what was your problem with Chris?" she demanded.

"Nothing like Phoebe's seems to be! It was when the genie was around, when he wished for you and Leo to sleep together, I thought he was some creepy sex offender from the future. You know, if you hadn't conned him we wouldn't even be having this conversation!" Paige yelled at Phoebe, who shook her head.

"See what I mean? He wished for you and Leo to sleep together! That is disgusting, you can't deny that!"

"Because he was desperate! If you two had just told me he would never have resorted to that, and if I find out that you had anything to do with his increasing desperation, there will be hell to pay!"

And with that she picked up her purse and headed for the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Paige asked in surprise.

"To go and look for my stuff for the baby I'm pregnant with!" she snapped, and slammed the door as she left.

Phoebe took a deep breath and looked apologetically at Paige.

"Sorry I roped you into that." She said sheepishly.

Paige just glared at her.

"One, my issues with Chris don't seem to be any like yours, so don't you dare just automatically assume I'll back you up when you rope me into this. Secondly, if anyone has any reason to not like Chris, it's Piper, not you, so back off and leave him alone." Paige snapped.

Phoebe rolled her eyes.

"Not you too! For goodness sake, have you and Piper suddenly forgotten everything he has done?" she demanded angrily.

"No I haven't, but we aren't exactly innocent in all this, we've actually probably done worse to him than he has to us. And it seems to me that you've probably done worse to him." She said waspishly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Phoebe demanded, her eyes narrowed.

Paige scoffed.

"You knew two weeks before I did, and you didn't tell me. And when we were trying to get him conceived, you were all too willing to give up. For god sake Phoebe, he's your nephew! No matter what he's done, he still deserves your love. And considering he is trying to save his big brother, and most likely us too, he deserves it a lot more!" Paige said and orbed away, leaving her sister standing in the hallway.

XX

Paige had orbed into her room, fuming. How dare Phoebe try and rope her into the argument with Piper? Sure, she hadn't trusted Chris that much either, but she wasn't holding it against him.

But now, the bombshell that she and Phoebe had dropped on Piper yesterday was already causing stress. The fact that her sisters knew about her sex life and that she was pregnant before she had even considered the possibility that that could have happened had greatly unnerved Piper. And then, being told that she was in fact the mother of the boy she had thrown out of the house and the same boy who at one point or another had all wanted rid of, had totally freaked her out. The noise she had made however had apparently convinced Chris that she was horrified by the news, and now he was nowhere to be found, thinking his mother didn't want him.

And that had made things even worse. All three of the sisters, and his father, had all treated Chris like he was a bomb about to go off. His closest family had mistrusted him and had barely tolerated his presence. Yes he had lied to them and manipulated them, but now seen with the benefit of hindsight, and the knowledge of who he actually was, it just showed that he was really determined to protect his brother, no matter what the cost...and that had led him to make mistakes and alienate the people he loved, and hence made them even harsher in their judgement of him. But the fact that the parent figures he was probably closest to, his mother and his two aunts had treated him so harshly for months must have led him to expect the worst from his family...and the look he had given Piper yesterday had made it seem as if his worst fears had been realised, that his family wanted nothing to do with him. How the hell they were going to begin to make it up to her new nephew was beyond her. But she knew that for his sake, and for Piper's, they had to try.

Then there was also the problem of Phoebe. She had known for a month, two weeks before Paige had found out the truth. And something about Chris' true identity had thoroughly annoyed her, so much so that she had been at least unhelpful, and at worst totally opposed to trying to get Chris conceived. When she and Paige had been trying to locate Piper and Leo two days before, Phoebe had seemed all too willing to give up and admit defeat, when it was her nephew's life at risk. Something greatly offended her about Chris, and if it wasn't dealt with, not only would she jeopardise any sort of reconciliation with her new nephew, it would also weaken their own bond, because despite knowing of his true identity for only half a day, Piper had already gone super maternal, and that would lead to friction within the power of three.

It was a good thing Leo didn't know yet, or that would just be another problem into the mix.

Paige frowned. Piper was miserable, and she had a feeling Chris was too, but she knew that Chris wouldn't want to appear if he thought he was going to get hurt or if he was going to find out that his mother didn't love him. Piper, while she wanted to talk to Chris, wouldn't go if she felt Chris didn't love her. It was a catch twenty two situation. And it needed solved.

So how to go about it? If she could fix Piper and Chris, then she could deal with Phoebe's Chris issues.

Then, an idea came to her. What if she brought in another family member, someone who hadn't mistreated Chris at all, and hoped that he would be able to help her deal with the situation? Smiling, she dashed next door and to find Piper's phonebook.

XX

"Well that just makes no sense." Victor cursed as he tried to balance an account for some local actress.

He sat back, glaring at it resentfully and wondering why the devil he had agreed to take on this extra job as a favour to the boss. A nice young lad, who clearly had the hots for said actress, Victor had agreed to do it as a favour, but now that he saw the actresses account, he was regretting his generosity.

Sighing, he contemplated getting up to make himself a cup of coffee, when the phone rang.

"Victor Bennett speaking."

"Hi Victor, it's Paige."

Victor smiled. The child from his ex-wife Patty's affair with her Whitelighter, Sam, he had been just as surprised as Piper and Phoebe to learn of the existence of a fourth child. However, as she had joined her sisters, helping them get revenge on the demon who had killed Prue and had helped save them from the attacks of the Source and had been instrumental in the vanquishing of Cole (who Victor had never liked much anyway), he had been more than willing to accept her as another daughter.

"Hi Paige, what can I do for you?" he asked.

"Well...the thing is things are a bit tense here at the moment, and I was sort of wanting your help with something. Are you free?"

Victor took a look at the next page of the actresses accountancy bills, winced, and nodded.

"Course I am. What do you need?" he asked.

"Well can I come over? Via orbing? This is a bit of a biggy." She said nervously.

"Sure, come on over, I'll stick the kettle on." He said, and she hung up.

Victor made the coffee and set down the tray, wondering what could be going on that Paige needed his help with. A second later, he was disturbed from his musings by the shimmer of orbs as his step daughter orbed into the apartment.

"Hi Paige. So, what's up?" he asked, sitting down.

Paige took a deep breath.

"Right, you know about Chris right, our Whitelighter?" she asked.

Victor nodded. He had heard less then favourable rants about the kid from both Piper and Phoebe. Victor had endured them, but had privately thought they were being a bit harsh. The kid was apparently relatively new, and was just finding his feet, and so the Elders in their infinite wisdom had stuck him with the sisters. Poor kid was probably feeling a bit abandoned by his bosses, and he was bound to make a few mistakes. And no matter what Piper said, he knew that deep down she knew that the boy had had to make Leo an Elder.

"Yeah, sure, I've heard about him from Piper and Phoebe. What about him?"

"Well it turns out that he's actually Piper's son." She stated.

Victor nearly dropped his coffee. A new grandson? What the hell?

"He's what?" Victor demanded.

"Piper's son, so that makes him your new grandson. I know, a bit of a shock isn't it?" she asked with a slight smile.

Victor spluttered.

"Well, if he's my...why didn't...why's he...what?" he asked weakly, looking at her, pleading for some answers.

"We didn't tell you because we weren't even sure how to tell Piper, let alone you, and let's just say...Piper's reaction hasn't helped the situation much. He apparently came back to stop Wyatt turning evil, apparently as in Cole evil, Source evil. And now, I need your help." She said, filling in his blanks.

Victor opened and closed his mouth like a guppy fish, trying to make sense of it all.

"Right, so let me get this straight...Chris, your new Whitelighter, is actually Piper's son from the future. He's come back from the future to save Wyatt from becoming the new big bad. Am I right so far?" Victor asked, and Paige nodded.

"Yep. So, I need your help."

Victor nodded. The news that he was soon to be getting another grandson was wonderful, but what could possibly have happened that he was needed?

"Well, give it to me straight. What do I need to do?"

Paige looked uncertain.

"Well, yesterday when we told Piper the truth, Chris was standing outside the door. And the noise she made...sort of a mix between a cat being sat on and strangled at the same time. He...got the wrong end of the stick, and I reckon he thinks Piper is horrified by the fact that he's her son, and he orbed out. I've never seen anyone looking so hurt as he did yesterday." She said sadly, the pain in her nephew's eyes still haunting her.

She took a deep breath and continued.

"So now, because I reckon he thinks Piper doesn't want anything to do with him, he's ignoring her calls, and ours as well. Piper on the other hand is ridden with guilt."

Victor raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Why would she be ridden with guilt? Because of how she reacted?" he asked shrewdly, and Paige blushed.

"Um...not entirely. You see, ever since he arrived the three of us...and Leo too...haven't exactly been model family members to the poor kid. We've made it clear several times that we didn't want him around...Leo attacked him...Piper threw him over the room...let's just say Phoebe and I aren't going for the 'Aunt of the Year Award' and Leo and Piper aren't going for the 'Parents of the Year Award'." She said sheepishly, feeling shame and guilt under Victor's stern gaze.

Victor looked at her ponderingly. If they really had been that mean to the kid... He needed to know exactly what had happened.

"Right...tell me everything that you've done to him ok? Then I can maybe figure out where we're going to go from that."

Paige looked down at her shoes.

"Well the first day he arrived all we did was tell him to bring Leo back, and then Piper threw him across the room with her powers because she was pissed. Then as time went on, I think, well we did accept him, and that he was here to stay but...well we always sort of compared him to Leo, reminding him that given a choice we'd have Leo over him in a heartbeat. And as he already seems to have pretty low self-esteem, partially to do with Wyatt being Twice-Blessed and all that jazz, I think we just sort of rubbed it in that he wasn't as good as his dad or his brother. And we did open up to him a little bit, but we always ignored him, or at least didn't take what he said to heart about the troubles with Wyatt as seriously as he wanted us to, and we were always telling him to lighten up. And we always focused more on our own troubles than what he wanted us to do, we never really tried to get to know him at all. And then we just got more and more exasperated with what he was doing, and all the time he was just trying to protect Wyatt, his big brother. And then there was Piper's birthday." She said with a wince.

Victor said nothing and she went in.

"That was when Piper kicked him out and told him she didn't want to see him again."

Victor whistled. He was afraid he was going to have to have a little talk with his daughters much along the lines of 'treat others how you would like to be treated yourselves'. Yes, as he had heard from Piper, they didn't fully trust the lad, but he had never out rightly tried to hurt them, so they shouldn't have treated him like that. And hearing that from his own mother must have really hurt the boy. Victor knew that it had hurt him enough when Prue had thrown him out five years before.

"Alright...some ground to cover on the 'how to be nice to other people, even if they don't appear entirely trustworthy' department then..." he commented, and she shot him a sour look, which he smiled in response to.

"But I don't see how I can be of any help." He said in confusion.

"Out of all his close family, only two people haven't been totally rotten to him...you and Wyatt, and as Wyatt can't even talk, I was hoping you could talk to Chris, get him to open up a little bit...and hopefully get him to talk to Piper." She said.

Victor nodded. He liked a challenge. And it sounded a lot better than struggling through his accounts. And even better, he got to meet his new grandson.

"Alright, you're on. Where is he?" he asked.

"That's part of the problem. I don't know. He's hiding from us and ignoring us, but I can make a couple of educated guesses as to where he might be."

"Can't you just call him like Piper and Phoebe called you?" Victor asked curiously as they got to their feet.

"I don't think that would do us any favours...and besides, Piper would yell at us." She said, clasping Victor's arm.

With a jolt of horror, he knew what she intended to do, his old dislike of anything Whitelighter kicking in.

"Oh no, can't we just take the car?" he asked weakly, and Paige grinned.

"No time to lose Victor. Hang on." She said with a grin.

With that, she orbed him away from his flat, overriding his protests.

XX

Chris looked down at the piece of paper he was writing on. As he looked at it more closely he saw that he had written Darth Vader as a list of suspects of the person who was after Wyatt.

"Um, right...clearly lost concentration there." He said miserably, then looked at the rest of it.

He had just listed fictional villains such as Sauron, Myotismon, the Joker, Blofeld, Galbatorix, Team Rocket, Voldemort, Magneto...

"Yep, definitely lost concentration." He said miserably, throwing down his pen in frustration.

He looked sadly down, trying to fight the sadness that had been in his heart and had been threatening to turn into tears all day. He knew it was his own fault that his mother hated him. He had done so much to her, hurting her, when he had only been trying to save her son from becoming a tyrant. But he had been so focused on saving Wyatt, he had hurt his mother. He had never wanted to do that. And he had hurt his aunts too, made them not trust him, manipulated them. But he had only been trying to save his brother, trying to save his family...

It wasn't as if he was evil. But the girls had never been happy that he had replaced Leo, had never liked him, never trusted him. He had proved time and again that he was on their side, and they had rebuffed him time and again, making him feel as if he was about as welcome as dry rot. And then, he knew some of his recent actions, like using Mr Right to convince them to bind Wyatt's powers had been wrong and that he shouldn't have done it, but he was becoming so panicky and desperate to stop Wyatt turning evil that he had lost sight of the people he was actually trying to save. And he had wound up hurting them.

Yesterday, when he had gone to see his mother, to see how she would react to the news that she was actually pregnant with him...that had told him everything he had needed to know. Her shriek had told him what he had been afraid of ever since he had gone to Phoebe to help get him conceived. He had carried the secret fear ever since he arrived that his mother would hate him so much that she wouldn't want to have him, that the mother he had always loved just as much as he loved as he loved his big brother would hate him.

And now he knew. His own mother was horrified by who he really was. The one who had come along, turned her life upside down and had told her that her baby would grow up to become worse than the Source was actually her son, and she hated that fact. His mother, the one who was meant to love him no matter what, hated him.

Chris remembered back to his mother's disbelieving face, the look of utter shock as his aunts told her the news, and finally gave in and let tears fall down his face. He had no one to blame but himself, but that didn't make it any easier. His mother hated him, his aunt Phoebe was ready and willing to give up and prevent him even being born and his aunt Paige didn't trust him. His father pushed his buttons just as much in this time as he did in his own one, and his big brother was a baby. Fair enough, he no longer put up his shield when Chris was present, and he could take a little bit of happiness from that. His baby big brother now trusted him. He must be the only one. His mother, furious with the lies he had told in order to protect them, had thrown him out of the house and had told him she didn't want to see him again. Having your own mother tell you that was bad enough, but when you loved your mother as much as he did it hurt even more. His aunt Phoebe, resentful of the fact that she didn't know he was her nephew before she found out, didn't trust him much either. And as Paige had been the sister who had found the scanner demon when he had him scan Wyatt, she didn't trust him much either, scoffing at his earnest pleas that he just wanted to help.

Chris let the tears fall freely, and didn't even try to stem them as they pooled on the bartop. He was past caring. He had frequently felt miserable since he had arrived, and with his own family treating them as if it was him who was the Source-in-waiting rather than Wyatt, who could blame him? For months now, putting up with their constant suspicion and mistrust had hurt him more and more, so much so that some nights he just crashed on the sofa that acted as his bed and cried himself to sleep. But, he had had the fact that he was going to save his brother, who was one of his three favourite people in the entire world, to keep him going. But now, nearly a year on and after so many failed leads, combined with his own family, he was beginning to question if he could even do that properly and save Wyatt from being turned evil. He was still no further on than he was many months before, and it terrified him that he would fail, and that his mother and aunts, regardless of whether Piper had him aborted or not, would still suffer at the hands of his big brother.

Chris sobbed, shoving his piece of paper away from him. He considered going around the bar and getting something to drown his sorrows, but he didn't have much money, and he didn't want to steal from his own mother. And what was more, he felt chocolate would probably be a bit better to drown his sorrows with, as it was cheaper and he could get more for what little money he had. He looked resentfully at the club, considering breaking something...but then that would make a mess and he would have to clean it up and it would annoy him until he did. He was a clean freak like his mother.

So as a result he heaved a sigh, then leaned his head on this arms as the folded them on the bar and let his tears continue to fall.

As he laid his head on his arms and wept, Paige and Victor orbed into the bar.

"That was too close! You nearly got us killed!" Victor scolded.

Paige looked at him sheepishly, gesturing in a shrug.

"Sorry, I got a bit off target. I didn't mean to take you to the underworld. But I vanquished the demon, so no big deal!" she said brightly, and Victor just glowered at her, so she quickly hid her smile.

And then her hidden smile disappeared when she saw Chris. The poor kid was lying with his head and arms on the bar, his head turned away from the stairs. And in the silent club, she could hear that he was crying. Guilt and sympathy rushed through her in equal measure and she walked down towards her nephew. Now that they knew who he was and why he was doing everything...he actually wasn't so bad.

She headed over, and he didn't turn to even look at her, so she looked at the piece of paper he had been writing on, and smiled slightly. It was clear that he had totally lost all will to concentrate on this, as the people he had listed as people trying to turn Wyatt were all fictional.

"Chris, I'm sorry to say it, but I don't think the Joker has much to gain by turning Wyatt evil." She said softly, making him jump slightly.

He whirled around to look at her in shock, his eyes red rimmed and his cheeks tear stained.

"Paige!" he scolded, and she grinned ruefully.

"Sorry sweetie. But like I said, the Joker won't have much to gain by making Wyatt evil."

Chris smiled a little as he looked at her.

"Ooh, just you wait until the new series of Batman films, then you'll be sorry, I'll be proved right." He said ominously, and Paige looked at him curiously, wondering what he was talking about, while he rubbed his eyes to wipe away the tears.

"Are you ok?" she asked gently, while Victor lingered in the background.

Chris shrugged as he looked back at her.

"Considering my own mom hates me, my aunts don't trust me and I've made my mom pregnant with a son she doesn't want, I suppose I'm alright." He said in a watery voice.

"Your mom doesn't hate you honey. And neither do I for what it's worth." She said, and for the first time ever, hugged him to her.

Chris said nothing, and just enjoyed the feeling of someone he loved hugging him again. It felt good, and his heart rose a little bit as she did so.

"I am so sorry for everything we've done to you Chris." She said, a small tear coming into her own eye.

"It's ok aunt Paige." He said softly, and she broke off from him and smiled at him, tears coming into her eyes.

"What?" he asked awkwardly.

"You called me aunt." She said in delight, and felt a feeling of love and warmth rush through her as what he said sunk in.

Chris smiled awkwardly at his aunt, and she turned away to hide her tears. But she still saw Chris' smile widen and brighten as he looked behind her.

"Grandpa!" he cried in delight and ran to him and hugged him.

"Oh, ok. Hello son, how are you doing?" he asked, hugging his new grandson back.

"Suppose..." Chris tailed off as he broke off from his grandpa, but Paige saw the smile that was on his face at seeing his grandfather and actually thought that this could work.

"You ok buddy?" Victor asked, and Chris nodded, a smile on his face but looking a bit uncertain.

"Did mom send you?" he asked hesitantly, and Victor shook his head.

"No. Your aunt Paige asked me to come and see you, she thinks I might be able to talk to you." He said, looking uncertain.

Chris grinned at Paige.

"Thanks aunt Paige." He said, and she smiled at him.

"So, it's a good thing I'm here?" Victor asked, cheered by this news.

"Yeah, course it is, you're awesome grandpa." Chris said happily.

Victor looked very pleased with this information, and winked at Paige.

"Hear that? I'm awesome." He said excitedly, and Chris laughed.

Paige looked at him in surprise. That was the first time she had heard him laugh. It was a nice sound, and she felt another wince of guilt as it was partly their fault that he didn't do it very often.

"Well then...I'll leave you and your 'awesome' grandpa to talk while I go and get a new food processor." She said and orbed off.

Victor looked at his new grandson speculatively. He apparently had a close bond with him, and he wanted to live up to his 'awesome' reputation. So, where to begin?

"Well son, why not tell me a bit about yourself?" he asked, heading round and getting a couple of cokes from the fridge.

Chris looked down at the coke worriedly, and Victor smiled.

"Don't worry son, I'll put the money in the till. So...what sort of things do you like?" Victor asked, stabbing in the dark.

Chris grinned, opened his coke and clinked it against his grandfather's, and began to talk.

XX

Piper sat in an empty parking lot, far away from the edge of the city, quietly thinking. Chris was her son. That much she could handle. What she couldn't handle was everything they had done to him. She also couldn't handle her own sister being disgusted by her own nephew.

What she really wanted was to talk to Chris. But as that was unavailable to her because he was avoiding her because he thought she didn't want him, that option was denied to her. So, as she wanted to actually talk to her son who thought she didn't love him, she needed supernatural help from someone who had been there and had done it. Looking around furtively, Piper got out of the car and set five candles that she had bought down on the ground.

Making sure no one was watching, she lit them, then took a deep breath.

"_Hear these words, hear my cry_

_Spirit from the other side_

_Come to me, I summon thee_

_Cross now the great divide_."

Fearing exposure, she looked around but there was no one around. And a good thing too, because Grams appeared a second later in a swirl of light.

"Piper? Are you insane?" Grams demanded, quickly stepping out of the ring and embracing her granddaughter.

"Hey Grams. Don't worry, there's no one around." She said, letting go of her grandmother.

Grams helped her pick up the candles then sat in the passenger seat.

"Well Piper, what's wrong? And what was wrong with conjuring me at the house?" she asked curiously.

Piper sighed.

"I don't know what to do Grams. I need parenting help, and I can't get it at the house because Phoebe might still be there and I'm not talking to her." Piper said grumpily.

"Oh? And why is this? And how do you need parenting advice? If Wyatt is teething, just give him some rum on his pacifier, that always worked with you three." Grams said lightly, and Piper looked at her in surprise.

"You gave us alcohol when we were babies?" she asked in disbelief.

Grams looked at her irritably.

"Piper, I had three little girls screaming at me all the time. I had to keep you quiet somehow."

Piper shook in disbelief.

"No it isn't that." She said.

"Is it anything to do with why you're not talking to Phoebe?" she asked.

"Yes. Remember last time you came down, you met our new Whitelighter and didn't think much of him?" Piper asked her, and she nodded.

"Yes. Mind you, because he left you I wasn't thinking many pleasant thoughts about Leo either...at least until I got turned into a hippy again." She said irritably, the memory still stinging.

"Well it turns out that our new Whitelighter is actually my son, Chris, from the future." Piper stated in a small voice.

Grams' eyes widened in shock as she made this announcement.

"Your son? But why...?"

"Apparently Wyatt turns evil in the future. I'm assuming that me, Phoebe and Paige are all dead, and what I can assume by the way he acts around Leo, I don't think Leo's around either. And if you say 'I told you so' I'll blast you back up there so quick it'll burn a hole in the sky." She said irritably.

Grams patted the air to calm her short tempered granddaughter.

"I'm not going to say it...he's your son?" Grams asked incredulously.

"Yes." Piper admitted, and for some reason her heart skipped a beat as she did so.

Grams looked flabbergasted.

"Well you don't hear that everyday. What the hell do I say to him? I told him he wasn't up to much..." she said, then smiled.

"But I did say he did a good job, so maybe I'm redeemed!" she said brightly.

Piper gave her a dirty look.

"I'm so thrilled for you. At least he'll talk to his great grandmother, but at the moment he hates his own mother!" she wailed, and Grams looked at her apologetically, wincing as she did so.

"Sorry Piper. Well...why don't you just talk to him?" Grams asked delicately.

Piper looked even more forlorn at that, rather than cheered up.

"Don't you think I've been trying? But when Paige and Phoebe told me yesterday who he really was, I...well I think he thinks I hate him." She lamented sadly, and Grams looked at her pityingly.

"Ah...yes I can see how that would complicate the mother/son relationship a tad." She said grimly, and Piper raised an eyebrow.

"You think?"

"Well Piper...I don't see how I can be of any help darling." Grams admitted sadly.

Piper looked sadly downwards.

"I don't know what to do Grams. I mean...we've done so much horrible stuff to him, how am I meant to make it up to him if I cant even talk to him?" she asked.

Grams looked at her pityingly.

"Piper, you just have to keep at it. Show that you won't be dissuaded, that you're not going to give up until you at least talk to the lad, and he'll come around because you'll eventually show him that you do care about him...you do care about him, right? I mean, he's done some odd things..."

"Yes I care about him, my argument with Phoebe is because she doesn't seem to care and thinks I should be disgusted by the truth, that's why I'm not talking to her. I just...I just want to get to know my son Grams, and apologise for everything I've done to him." Piper lamented.

"I know my darling, but just give it time. He'll come around eventually." Grams promised, and hugged Piper because swirling up back to wherever Piper had summoned her from.

Piper sighed. She just had to keep at it, like Grams said. Then hopefully, she would be able to get to know her son from the future.

XX

Victor sighed. He and his new grandson had finally reached the point that Chris seemed most reluctant to talk about...the future. He had enjoyed finding out about his new grandson, but now, he actually had to find out why Chris had come back and what was so terrible in the future that he had endured the sister's treatment of him just to try and improve it.

"Can we not talk about that Grandpa?" Chris asked sadly, but Victor shook his head.

"Chris son, part of your aunt's problem is that they don't really know enough about you. Maybe if they knew why you were so determined to do everything in order to change the future, they might understand a bit more." Victor reasoned, and Chris didn't meet his eyes.

"Son, they just want to understand why you did everything you did...and they want to know what the hell is in the future that is so bad that you could put up with everything they've done to you, and make you risk your own existence, just to try and make things better."

Chris looked down into his coke, as if hoping he would be able to hide in there until the questions about the future went away. But, he supposed he had already told his mother and aunts some of the things in the future, and it was better that Grandpa get the full story from him...and then hopefully he wouldn't have to repeat it to the sisters later on.

Sighing, he turned to look at Victor.

"The thing that makes the future so terrible, the thing I came back to stop...it's Wyatt."

Victor nodded, showing that he understood, and gestured for Chris to continue. Chris closed his eyes, and began to recount the tale, not noticing the silent of arrival of Paige, who had a brand new food processor in her hands.

"In the future...he's taken over. You remember Cole, and how he was the Source? Well Wyatt's worse. The Elders are all dead. All the good beings, like the leprechauns, the fairies and that lot, they're all enslaved. Wyatt controls all the demons, they all report to him. He rules both worlds, both the magical and the normal one, magic's been exposed. It's horrible. His rule is absolute, and anyone who defies him ends up dead. Good...it's finished. Good's been destroyed." Chris said.

Victor looked at Chris in shock. The future was that bad? No wonder the kid had come back.

"And there's no one left worth caring about. In the future, Wyatt's the only family I've got left...and he keeps trying to kill me."

Paige stifled a gasp as she heard her nephew inform Victor that her other nephew spent his time trying to kill him.

"Hang on, so where's your mom, Phoebe and Paige?" Victor asked.

Chris looked at his grandpa with pain filled eyes, and Victor immediately knew the answer.

"They're dead." Chris admitted quietly.

Victor looked at Chris in disbelief. All three of the girls were dead? Well, that would certainly explain why an evil Wyatt was able to take over. But Victor had a horrible feeling that it was about to get a whole lot worse.

"Mom died...she died on my fourteenth birthday. It was just me and her in the house. We were putting things away from my party, and when I went through to get the last of the things, mom was attacked. The demon hit her with some weird power that crashed her through the window, and he ran. I found her outside, I still don't know what really killed her...she was just lying there, getting weaker and weaker...I couldn't do anything, aunt Paige wasn't there, neither was Wyatt...and she died...it was my fault, I wasn't good enough to save her." Chris sobbed, and Victor wrapped an arm around his grandson's shoulder.

"I know it wasn't your fault Chris." He said firmly.

Over in the shadows, Paige blinked tears from her eyes. Piper died in the future? And Chris blamed himself...and the way he talked about her, it was clear that he loved her more than anything...which of course all contributed to making her feel even worse. He clearly adored Piper...and when her sister found out everything he had been through she would feel even worse.

"Yes it was...my mommy died because I couldn't save her! I couldn't even save my mom from dying!" Chris sobbed.

Victor got off his stool and turned Chris to look at him.

"Look at me Chris, whatever happens to your mom isn't your fault. You have to believe that." Victor said, and Chris looked up at him tearfully.

"So what happened after your mom died? How did Leo cope?" Victor asked curiously, wondering how his Elder son-in-law would manage to keep two boys.

Chris let out a derisive snort.

"Leo? You must be joking. Leo never wanted anything to do with me. He spent all his time pretending I didn't exist. That's why me and mom were so close, because my 'father' didn't care a toss about me." Chris said bitterly, and Paige shared Victor's look of wide eyed surprise.

Leo wasn't there for his kids? Woo, Piper would love that... She would recommend he wear a hard hat when he next appeared for a visit.

"He didn't even come to mom's funeral. That was when Wyatt gave up on him too. He was always there for Wyatt, always helped him, always talked to him, always liked spending time with him...and he ignored me totally. Anyway, on the day of mom's funeral, when he couldn't be there for either of us...Wyatt had had enough of him. He appeared later and Aunt Paige threw him out, warned him not to come near either of us again. He didn't care enough to come and help me when I called him, so we lost mom. And then he appeared a day late, so she threw him out and told him not to come back."

Victor looked at him in shock. His mom dead, his father absent...it was the girls all over again.

"So, who looked after you?"

"You did, you were great. You were always there if I needed to talk. And we had aunt Phoebe and aunt Paige as well." He said.

"So, what happened next then?" Victor asked, eager to keep his grandson going now that he was opening up.

"Well after that...Wyatt started to act up. Aunt Phoebe and Paige thought it was because he was missing mom...but it wasn't. He was turning dark, and I reckon mom being killed was just the catalyst. He was getting darker and darker all the time...then we found out he was in league with demons. Surprisingly, dad didn't come _then_ either. Wyatt went off to take over the underworld after we tried to bind his powers."

Victor looked at Chris in shock. Wyatt, the little blond boy whose birth he had witnessed, grew up to become the leader of all things evil?

"After a while he came back, leading the demons. The first thing they did was attack the Elders. I don't know if Wyatt took out Leo but he never appeared to the girls when they called him, so either he was still sore because Paige threw him out or he was dead. Then, he started coming after all of us. Me and the two of them formed a power of three, and we had their kids as well...but we weren't any match for Wyatt. He turned at least three of them evil, breaking each power of three, and then he had the remaining kids killed. It was just us left." Chris continued.

Paige looked at her nephew from across the room. She had kids? That opened up a whole other world of questions by itself. But, Wyatt killed them? How could her other nephew turn so evil?

"After that, we went on the run, trying to find some way to stop him, but we couldn't. He was just too powerful. No one wanted to risk themselves by helping us, so we were on our own. We went after him...and that's when he killed Paige." Chris said tearfully.

Paige started. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear how she died. But, a horrible feeling was creeping into her stomach. If Piper, who he seemed to love very much had died when he was fourteen, and she had died not much later then...if Phoebe was also killed in his future...the poor kid would have been all alone, with his evil big brother trying to kill him, no one he could turn to...

"We lured him to the manor, intending to use the nexus to help split him from his powers. But he must have figured out our plan...because he summoned the Hollow..." Chris said in a depressed voice.

Paige blanched. The Hollow was a powerful entity that consumed magic, that the Source had tried to use to destroy them. It had failed and had been put back in its box, but if Wyatt had used it against them, they wouldn't have stood a chance...

"He blasted her, I barely managed to orb the three of us away. I've never been able to heal...and there wasn't anything we could do...all we could do was sit there as whatever that blast thing he hit her with killed her bit by bit, slowly killing everything inside her..." Chris said, sobbing.

Paige fought down a horrified noise. Wyatt killed her with the Hollow...and she was sure Phoebe's fate wouldn't be much better...

"After that, it was me and aunt Phoebe. She never let me out of her sight. But one day...we were trying to bust a small coven out of Wyatt's dungeons under the manor...but we got split up. I got the coven out but realised I didn't have her...and I went back in just in time to see Wyatt stab her with Excalibur...I blasted him and orbed her out...but I couldn't heal her again...and she died too, bleeding to death and I couldn't do a thing...she just kept bleeding and going so cold...and I couldn't do a thing, just like with mom...and aunt Paige...and you..." Chris said, tears staining his face.

Paige couldn't suppress it any longer. She gave out a sob. Chris had seen everyone he had ever loved die on him, all except his big brother, who had been the one to kill his own aunts and make Chris' life as miserable as possible. He had taken over the world. No wonder Chris had come back, he had wanted to save his family.

Chris' tears were pooling on the bar, and Victor looked at his grandson tenderly, and wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulder and Chris allowed his grandfather to pull him into a hug.

"You...you never said what happened to me..." Victor said worriedly, wondering if Wyatt killed him too.

"You died on me too...you died of some lung thing, so please stop smoking cigars." Chris pleaded, and Victor nodded.

"Straight away." He promised the lad.

He looked down at his grandson. No wonder the poor kid was such a mess, and no wonder he was so upset by Piper's reaction. That would probably be hard for any kid, but for one who had loved her so much only to lose her, and then have her treat him the way she had since he had arrived, treat him the way they all had...poor soul.

"It'll be okay slugger, don't worry." He said, then gave a relieved smile to Paige as she moved out of the shadows.

"Oh Chris..." she said and wrapped her arms around him tenderly.

Chris said nothing as Paige held him close, and she looked at Victor thankfully. At least they knew why he had done everything he had done now. He sat back and looked apologetically at Victor.

"I'm sorry grandpa, for getting into such a state." He said meekly, but Victor shook his head.

"Don't be silly son! After what you've been through, no one can blame you for coming back here to try and fix things." Victor said, and Chris gave him a watery smile.

"Why didn't you tell us about all this?" Paige asked her nephew, looking into his eyes.

Chris shrugged.

"It hurts, remembering it. Anyway, you wouldn't have believed me, and you didn't care that much about anything I had to say anyway." He said, not meeting her eyes.

Paige felt that one like a kick in the gut. The fact that it was probably true made it all the worse.

"Chris, I am so sorry for how we've treated you..." she began, to Victor's encouraging nods, but Chris shook his head.

"You were only protecting yourselves, don't worry about it." Chris said.

Paige looked at Victor, who shook his head, both of them knowing that her apology had just meant a lot to him, and that he wouldn't feel any happier until he had one from Phoebe and Piper as well.

"Chris, look, your mom does love you. She was just a little bit shocked yesterday when we told her. How would you feel if you found out some poor kid you'd been mistreating for months was actually your son from the future?"

Chris looked at her, and hated to admit it to himself, but he really hoped she was right. But, what if she was wrong and his mother did hate him? Her throwing him out once had been a horrible experience. Having to endure the process a second time would break his heart.

"Tell you what...why not go and talk to your mom?" Victor suggested gently.

Chris looked at them uncertainly. He certainly wanted to talk to his mother, but at the same time he didn't want to get hurt any more than he had already been. But he did want to go and talk to her, tell her how much he loved her, how much he had missed her...but what if she really was horrified by who he was?

"I don't know..." Chris said hesitantly.

"Chris, believe me, she really does love you!" Paige said earnestly.

Chris looked at her uncertainly. Mind you, after the last few months she could hardly blame him.

"Well, why not start with Phoebe then? Tell her everything you told me." Victor said, ignoring Paige's questioning look.

Paige looked at him urgently, trying to impart without actually saying that he should remember that Phoebe didn't seem to be overly fond of her new nephew and this might not be the best of ideas. However, Chris looked as though he was considering it, which she supposed was a little more than he was doing for going to see Piper. Maybe if they took it in baby steps he could go and see Piper and talk to her eventually.

"Ok...ok...I'll go and see Aunt Phoebe." Chris said, as though he was consigning himself to the gallows.

He orbed off, and Paige looked at Victor curiously.

"Um, did you happen to miss the entire thing where I told you Phoebe doesn't like him much?" she asked.

Victor shook his head.

"No I didn't. But if he tells her all that, you know what she's like, she'll be begging him to forgive her." Victor said.

Paige wasn't as convinced. That Phoebe had known about Chris before the rest of them and hadn't exactly gone out of her way to help him wasn't going to make it any easier for them. Nor was the fact that she didn't like anything Chris had done since arriving and seemed to take everything he had done and his true identity as a personal insult.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Paige said worriedly.

XX

Chris orbed into Phoebe's office, making her jump in fright as he did so.

"Chris, what are you doing here?" she asked sharply.

"I just came to talk to you." Chris said soothingly, but the look he was getting seemed to indicate he was about as welcome here as dry rot.

"Chris, if it's another demon I'm not in the mood." Phoebe said irritably.

Chris glowered at her. This was one of the reasons he most detested being back here. In the future, he had been close to both his aunts and incredibly close to his mother, and he had been the one who had seen them all die. And now he was treated like this...by the one who had known the longest. No wonder he wasn't that happy with his aunt at the moment. He was fed up of her constant ratting on him as if he was the Source. He wasn't anywhere near. Her precious baby nephew was the Source in waiting, not him. And she was a fine one to talk about lying to their family, as she had been the one who had lied about Belthazor's destruction to Prue and his mother, and had basically brought upon herself all the ensuing trouble that had done.

"It's not another demon, I just came to talk to my aunt if that isn't too much bother." Chris sniped angrily.

That shocked her a little, and Chris took some savage pleasure in seeing her eyes widen in surprise. Served her right, jumping to conclusions...

"Well Chris, I'm a little busy at the moment..." Phoebe said, not meeting his eyes.

Chris raised an eyebrow sceptically.

"Oh yeah, doing what?" he asked, trying to keep his voice polite, but as he knew well she was lying to him, as she hadn't done a single thing and her completed column was on the desk beside her so she couldn't be that busy.

"Important stuff." Phoebe said elusively, and Chris rolled his eyes, his temper, relatively calm until provoked, just like his mother's, was rising now.

"Look _aunt_ Phoebe, I just want to talk to you ok?" he asked, giving it one final stab, though he was getting incredibly frustrated and was feeling slightly hurt by her treatment too. Fair enough he hadn't always been level with her and her sisters, but he had never treated them with outright hatred no matter how horrible they had been to him.

"No, it isn't ok! We were all perfectly happy until you showed up and turned everything upside down. You've lied to us, deceived us and manipulated us since day one. We never asked you to come back here, but you just came along anyway! Coming back just because your big brother picked on you, how pathetic are you!" she yelled angrily.

Chris took a disbelieving step backwards. He had a horrible feeling she had been longing to throw this diatribe at him ever since he had arrived, and here she could do it without reproach from either Paige or his mother, and she was really going to town. He opened his mouth, but she cut across him.

"We were all happy, there were no major threats and ever since you appeared we've never had a moments rest! No wonder your brother 'apparently' turns evil with a neurotic little freak like you for a brother making him paranoid and constantly bringing demons into the house! You broke up your parents, took away your dad, who never did anything to deserve that, you never give us peace, you turned our lives upside down just so you can stop Wyatt being a typical big brother and picking on you! And on that note, you're nowhere near as good a Whitelighter as Leo, and never will be. You can't even heal!"

Chris felt tears welling in his eyes, but Phoebe wasn't done, and she wasn't letting him get a word in edgeways.

"You're a liar and we were all so much better off without you, and I still can't quite believe that you're my nephew. And just because you are doesn't mean I'm going to forget everything you've done. You're a manipulative, paranoid lying little freak. You've got us jumping at shadows at a threat that probably doesn't even exist, and you, little future boy, are probably the thing that does turn him if he winds up evil. We were all happier without you Chris, so just go. You got what you wanted, you got yourself conceived. So just go." She said coldly.

Chris took a step back, tears running down his face. He didn't even try to wipe them from his eyes. His mother throwing him out was one thing...this was totally different. He just wanted to orb away, but the fury he inherited from his mother and his aunt Prue kept him rooted. She thought her new nephew was so bad did she? Well she may have ripped apart his already fragile heart, but he wasn't going to leave without at least giving a parting shot.

"You know...the aunt Phoebe I knew...you're nothing on her. I'm glad I know how far your auntly concern goes dear _aunt_ Phoebe. I admit I've lied, but you can't lecture anyone about lying. Do you even know why I came here? I came here to talk to my aunt...to tell her how much she meant to me...and instead I got the cold hearted bitch who makes the snow queen look warm and loving." Chris said through his tear filled voice, hatred pouring from his eyes to her.

Phoebe looked at him in shock, and opened her mouth furiously.

"Look I am..."

Chris didn't let her get a word in this time.

"If you _dare_ say 'your aunt' I will scream, and no matter how good a person they think you are here, I don't think your colleagues will be pleased with what you just said to me. I admit, I did some stuff I shouldn't have done, but don't you dare think, even for a second, that I wanted to do them. I _hated_ splitting mom up from Leo and making her so miserable. There is an evil out there that is after Wyatt, believe me. And know how you think dad didn't deserve what I did?" he growled, fury and deep hurt cutting through his fragile sounding voice.

Phoebe just kept looking at him in shock.

"That was the man that you and aunt Paige threw out of the house, because he wasn't there for his kids during their mother's funeral!" he spat.

Phoebe took a step back, shocked. Piper was dead in his future...?

"My aunt Phoebe loved me. You're nothing against her. She would never _ever_ say anything like that."

Phoebe's jaw was trying to work, to try and talk Chris down, try to talk this about calmly, even though she knew the damage had been done. But he drowned out her feeble protestations.

"And I know I'm a crap Whitelighter, having seen everyone I care about die in front of me and not being able to do anything about it was more than enough to remind me of that thank you very much. And you know that beautiful little boy you fawn so much over, and were perfectly happy with until I showed up? My saintly big brother? Well I'll let you in on a little secret my _dear auntie_. Itty, bitty, perfect, baby Wyatt is the one who stabbed you! He ran you through with Excalibur, and he turned or killed your kids! And as you bled to death, do you know, who the person was, who sat beside you, holding your hand, knowing he was watching the last person alive that he loved slipping away from him, and as you so kindly pointed out, he was totally unable to heal you? It was me. I watched as my last auntie bled to death, after she had been stabbed by my dear big brother you seem to think is so very perfect! I sat there and watched you die...just like I had to watch mom, Paige and grandpa die...you were the last one I had...and you left me too. But I didn't leave you...never. I sat there with you, knowing you were going away and leaving me all alone...but I still stayed, with the aunt that I _loved_. I loved my aunt Phoebe." He said, sobs wracking his furious torrent of words.

And then he dealt the blow just as she had.

"But you're not her. You don't even come close." He said hatefully, glaring at her and orbing out, and as he did so, he let out a massive sob.

Phoebe dropped into her seat, shock, horror and a sick feeling of guilt spreading through her. What had she done?

XX

"Thanks for the help victor." Paige said, hugging him fondly as she dropped him back at his apartment.

"Oh that's alright Paige, I quite liked meeting my new grandson. And besides...finding out you're awesome is enough to make anyone's day." He said heartily, and she grinned.

After Chris had orbed out she had taken him home to get back to his work, while she went back home to try to figure out how to broker a peace between Piper and Phoebe.

"Thank you. And I'll let you know if he goes to talk to Piper." She said, and he smiled.

"Thanks. He's a good lad. And remember and pass on a warning to my two girls, and you remember as well...upset my grandson again and there will be consequences." He said warningly, wagging his finger.

Paige smiled.

"I know, don't worry, there will most likely be a fair bit of grovelling when we see him." She said quietly.

"Good. And tell him from me he's welcome any time he likes." He said cheerily, and she waved at him as she orbed off.

Mid orb though, it occurred to her that she had better go and check on Phoebe and Chris, just to be on the safe side...Phoebe did seem to have particular issues with their new grandson. There was a ninety percent possibility that the two of them were sitting in Phoebe's office over a cup of tea and a few biscuits, with Phoebe and Chris both apologising, and Phoebe hugging her nephew to her like she's meant to. But then again...there was a possibility they weren't.

XX

Paige orbed into Phoebe's office, and upon seeing her sister's stricken face, her stomach plummeted to somewhere around her ankles.

"Phoebe?" she asked sharply.

Phoebe looked up at Paige, her face pale and her eyes red rimmed and Paige's sense of foreboding increased.

"Chris has been already hasn't he?" she asked urgently, and Phoebe nodded meekly.

"Paige...I..."

Paige glowered dangerously at her sister.

"What did you do?" she ground out, having a horrible feeling she already knew.

Phoebe sniffed sadly.

"I just went at him...I...I gave him the rant I've wanted to give him since day one. I..."

Paige could feel her temper rising. Maybe it was her imagination but it had certainly become a lot worse since she had dyed her hair. But, if Phoebe had done what she thought she had done, a furious Paige would be nothing compared to Piper when she found out.

"What did you say to him?" she demanded, wondering how bad the damage was.

"I...I said loads of stuff...stuff we've all thought since he appeared though! That he isn't a very good Whitelighter, that he's paranoid, and that he's a liar! But I went too far, I said horrible stuff, I called him pathetic, told him we were all happy until he showed up, that he was overreacting to Wyatt basically, that he was the thing that apparently turns him evil, that we would all be much happier if he went away..." Phoebe tailed off, looking horrified as she remember what exactly she had said to her nephew, and then what he had said in return.

She chanced a look at her sister, hoping to find some tiny shred of compassion, but all she found was cold, bristling fury. Paige was livid. Her face was blotchy with anger, her usually warm brown eyes narrowed dangerously, and her red hair seemed to be crackling with electricity.

"Paige...?" Phoebe asked her sister breathlessly, preparing to beg her to take her to Chris so she could try and fix things with him before it was too late.

Paige glowered at her.

"Do you have any idea what that kid has been through? Any idea of how much he's suffered?" Paige whispered in a deadly voice.

"I've got some idea now." Phoebe said meekly, remembering the furious tirade he had given her before he had left.

"Do you even know why he came here Phoebe? He just came to talk to his aunt, to tell her how much he loved her! And you just went at him, even when Piper and I warned you not too! And you just couldn't help yourself, you had to open your mouth! That poor kid, your nephew, the one you've apparently just told is a waste of space, has watched everyone he cares about die, most of them by Wyatt's doing! But no, you were too busy being annoyed that he hadn't been straight with us from the beginning, too busy nursing your wounded ego to figure that he might have had a very good reason for doing that! Piper is going to _kill_ you!" she roared, and tears were streaming down Phoebe's face.

"I know I shouldn't have done it, I'm so sorry, I couldn't help myself! I shouldn't have, I know, and I know you two told me to keep quiet but I couldn't. And then he said all those terrible things, about us all being dead...and I knew he wasn't lying...please Paige, take me to him so I can try and fix this!" Phoebe pleaded.

Paige glared, blood pounding into her ears.

"Oh no, you are coming with me...but at the moment I don't want you anywhere near Chris, and he won't want you near him either. The best thing you can do is leave him well enough alone." She growled angrily, and grabbed Phoebe's arm.

"But I need to..."

"Yes you do, but not right now...right now, you need to keep as far away from him as possible. Now come on!" she said and orbed them out.

XX

Victor was just making himself a cup of tea when Paige once again orbed into the house, holding an upset Phoebe.

"What's happened?" Victor asked urgently, though he had a feeling of trepidation in his stomach.

"Phoebe." Paige said darkly.

"Dad, how...?" Phoebe asked.

"Look Phoebe, I maybe shouldn't have yelled, but Piper did tell you to keep your trap shut. And considering how mad Piper is going to be with you, you'd better stay here for a bit. Victor, can you come with me while I find Chris?" Paige asked, and he nodded, while Phoebe looked miserable.

"I'm really..."

"We know. But we are still going to have a long chat when we get back young lady." Victor said sternly, in the father voice he couldn't provide for his girls while they were growing up.

Phoebe looked downhearted, and Paige didn't wait to see what she said, and orbed Victor away to P3, where they would hopefully find Chris.

XX

Paige orbed them into the bar, and straining her ears, Paige thought she could hear the noises of someone crying. She couldn't believe Phoebe had done that, been so horrible to him. After all he'd been through...yeah, he had done wrong and he admitted it, and as such Phoebe should have kept her nose out.

"I can't believe Phoebe..."

"Opened her mouth when she was told not to? Yeah, she's good at that." Paige said irritably, not feeling particularly fond of her sister at the moment.

Victor looked pensive, and Paige frowned.

"You're not thinking of another plan are you?" she asked irritably, considering the mess they had gotten in with his last plan.

"I admit the last plan didn't work, but I didn't actually think Phoebe would do that. I'll be having stern words with her don't worry." He assured her.

Paige smiled despite herself.

"Being the disapproving father?" she asked, and he nodded, but didn't meet her eyes.

"Anyway, my plan this time is better!" he said brightly.

"Do tell." Paige said as they made their way to the office where the crying was coming from.

"You'll see." He said mysteriously, and she couldn't help but feel a twinge of worry.

They entered the office to see Chris lying on the sofa, facing away from the door, his sobs reaching their ears. She went and sat on the edge of the sofa.

"Come to tell me how you're happier without me around?" he asked bitterly.

"I'm not Phoebe. She never should have said that." Paige said, stroking his hair.

"She meant it." Chris said, and both Paige and Victor winced at the bitterness and hurt in his voice.

Paige shrugged at Victor, not knowing what to say to her hurt nephew. He laid his hand on Chris' shoulder.

"Look son, Phoebe did wrong. She should never have said any of that stuff to you. She had no business saying that to you, and she feels horrible about it. She feels really guilty." He said.

"Good." Chris snarled, and Paige couldn't blame him.

"Look Chris, I'm not asking you to go and see her, I don't think that would do either of you any good. But...what I'm wondering is, seeing as you're miserable, why are you still here?" Victor asked suggestively.

Chris turned, hurt in his eyes, to face his grandfather, and Paige had a suspicion that he could have phrased it a little better than he just did. Thankfully though, Victor seemed to realise that he had made a mistake.

"Not that I want you to go anywhere! No, don't get me wrong, I like the idea of having an adult grandson around. No, what I mean is, why are you sitting in here crying and feeling miserable when there is someone who wants to talk to you and can give you a far better hug than Paige or I could ever manage?" He said wisely.

Chris looked at him curiously, his red rimmed eyes wide.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"What he means is that your mom wants to talk to you, and you know what she's like, as soon as she sees you in a state she'll never leave you alone." Paige said with a smile.

Chris shook his head. The thought of being comforted his mother was good, really good...but hadn't she already proved she didn't want anything to do with him?

"I don't want another fight...I'm fed up of getting hurt." He said miserably.

Paige smiled down at him. She didn't blame him for feeling that way. After all the things he had been through before he came here, and then their treatment of him since he had arrived, she supposed he had every right to feel that way. And, if she could convince him that Piper didn't actually hate him, then the day might still end on a high note.

"Chris, Piper loves you. She just wants to talk to you. She was just surprised when we dumped that on her, she doesn't hate you. Go to her. Go and talk to her." She suggested, and Chris looked at her curiously.

"Listen to her son. Your mom just wants to talk to you that's all. On you go." Victor said encouragingly, and Chris smiled at them slightly.

"Ok. But if she goes at me..." he said worriedly, but Paige shook her head.

"She won't. She went nuts at Phoebe on your behalf this morning. She loves you." Paige said gently, and Chris gave her a smile, and he orbed off, looking hesitant, like a boy who was about to talk to people he like but wasn't sure would like him.

"Well it's definitely a better plan than the last world beater." Paige commented dryly.

Victor scowled at her, and she grinned.

"Right, can you orb me home? Then I can tell Phoebe off." He said, and she smiled at him.

"Thanks for all your help today Victor."

"It was my pleasure Paige. You're a good kid, and so's he. And I won't go too hard on Phoebe." He said, smiling slightly.

Paige rolled her eyes. She would calm down at her sister eventually, and she knew that Phoebe was mortified about everything she had said to Chris and wanted to make it up to him. They would patch things up for her.

"Well if you wind up grounding miss Phoebe, how about a celebratory drink later on?" she asked, and Victor smiled.

"Best idea I've had all day." He said with a grin, and Paige laughed.

XX

"Well what will it be? Red, blue or green?" she asked herself, looking at the three colour sheets so she could decide what colour to paint baby Chris' room.

Looking at the sheets just made her feel worse. It made her realise how little she knew her son, her little boy. She had treated him with disdain for months and knew next to nothing about him. What sort of mother was she? No wonder Chris wouldn't answer her calls, which she had done at least five minutes since she had left Grams hours ago. He thought she didn't care about him, was horrified by the truth.

Sighing in frustration, she sat glaring down at the colour sheets as if they would somehow tell her Chris' favourite colour. She couldn't even ask Wyatt's opinion as he was staying at Darryl's at the moment. What did she do?

"Well this is hopeless. Which one do I choose?" she asked herself angrily.

"Green." A small voice said from the door, and Piper whipped her head around so quickly she was surprised she didn't get a crick in her neck.

"Chris..." she said in shock as she saw her son, hanging nervously at the door.

"Hi." He said quietly, looking terrified.

"Come here, come on, come and sit down." She said nervously, and Chris hesitantly came into the room and sat down on the bed beside her.

She looked at her son in shock and wonder. After wanting to see him all day, she finally had him. Close to, his eyes looked red, as if he had been crying. Without knowing what she was doing, she gently raised her right hand to cup his face, and then she put it around his neck and brought him close to her, wrapping her arms around her son gently. And to her enormous relief, he curled up into her embrace and rested his head on her shoulder, not saying anything but just sitting there letting her hold him, closing his eyes as he savoured the touch that he had missed for so long.

"I've missed you so much..." he said quietly, and she looked down at the top of his head.

"You've...you've missed me? But I thought you hated me!" she said in surprise.

Chris sat up, looking at her in shock.

"What? Mom I don't hate you! I love you." He said.

Piper looked at him curiously.

"But when you didn't answer, when you didn't come when I kept calling, I thought it was because you hated me because of everything I've done to you." She said, looking into her son's eyes, which were so like her husband and sister's, Prue.

"I didn't come because I thought you were ashamed of me...I thought _you_ hated _me_." He said, with a small rueful smile.

Piper smiled at him.

"Ok...I guess we've both been a bit silly. But I suppose I can't blame you because of how I reacted." She said sheepishly.

Chris grinned a little.

"Well yeah...it was a very weird noise." He stated, and she gave a little laugh.

"Yeah it was...I'm sorry I made you think I didn't want you honey, or that I was ashamed of you. I'm not. I'm so, so proud of you for what you've done, what you're doing, what you've put up with since you came here and had to endure your mom and your aunts being mean." She said, pulling him back into her embrace, which he happily curled into.

"It's ok, you were only protecting Wyatt and yourselves. And I'm sorry for some of the stuff I did, lying to you and stuff..." he said, and she kissed his head.

"We know why you did it now baby...have you been crying?" she asked hesitantly.

"You know, I never could hide it from you when I'd been crying." He said ruefully.

"What upset you? Oh, was it me?" she asked worriedly, and he sat up again and shook his head.

"No. It wasn't you." He said.

Something about the way he said that made her protective maternal instincts kick in, and she knew straight away what had really upset her new son.

"Phoebe." She spat angrily, a growl forming in her throat, knowing full well her sister hadn't kept her mouth shut and had gone off at Chris.

"Yeah...don't go nuts at her over me please mom." Chris begged, and Piper was immediately brought up short, jarred out of her fury.

"What? I just don't want you three fighting over me." Chris said awkwardly, wondering what had made his mother stop short.

"It's not that...you called me mom." She said happily, and Chris smiled, happy that he had made her happy.

"Well you are my mom aren't you?" he asked shyly, and she smiled.

"Yeah, and I'm glad I am." She said.

"Good." Chris said happily, and she knew that whatever she said, nothing but that could have cheered him up, and smiled affectionately at her son.

"I've missed you mommy." He said, and something about the way his voice caught raised her suspicions.

"What, did I, leave you pair, is that what drove Wyatt evil?" she asked, not thinking she would be able to bear it if she was the cause of her son going dark in Chris' future.

Chris shook his head.

"No...you didn't leave us...well you did, but not in the way you think." He said, not wanting to tell her all this, let alone repeat it for the second time today.

"Chris honey?" she asked, wondering if part of the reason he hadn't said much about the future was about to be revealed to her, and a great feeling of trepidation rose in her stomach.

"You died...you died when I was fourteen." He admitted, tears forming in his eyes as they always did when he recounted that terrible day.

And so he told her, exactly what had happened on that day, and when she did not say anything, he, with great reluctance, continued the tale, of Wyatt's fall, of what happened to Paige and Phoebe, of how Leo was never there, and why he had come back to stop his brother turning evil.

Piper looked at Chris in shock as he finished his tale. His brother was evil, his father was absent, his mother, aunts and grandfather were all dead...no wonder he had come back to change the past. And to be met by such resistance, such mistrust, such coldness...it had to have made it even worse, having the people he loved not want anything to do with him.

"Oh Chris...I am so sorry for everything we did, everything _I_ did to you. You are so brave, and I am so proud of you." She said, looking at her tearful son.

"I won't fail you mom, I'll save him." He said and allowed himself to be brought back into her warm embrace again.

"You never could baby...and I know you will," Piper said, stroking his hair and wiping the tears from his face simultaneously.

They sat in silence for a while, Piper wondering how bad his life had truly been, with everything he had seen. Chris, for his part, was simply enjoying the fact that he was reunited with his mother. They lay on the bed, Chris snuggled up against his mom, who had her arms wrapped tightly around him, not wanting him to be hurt by anyone or anything again, or to leave her now that she knew who he truly was.

"So...green huh?" she asked after a while, and Chris smiled.

"Yeah green. Wyatt likes blue if that helps as well." He said.

Piper looked at the ceiling, and figuring there was no time like the present, she decided to get to know some stuff about her son.

"So...do you like to cook?" she asked hopefully, as she had a sneaky suspicion that Wyatt might take after his father in that department, and thus be totally unable to fry an egg.

"Yeah, I had a really good teacher, she always let me lick the bowl...but I had to be quick when we made chocolate decadence cake or she'd swipe it." He said reminiscently, a nostalgic smile coming to his face as he remembered his mother's wonderful cooking.

"Good, very good..." Piper said happily.

"Aunt Paige laughed at my suggestions as to who's after Wyatt." He commented, and she turned to look at him.

"That's a bit harsh surely?" she asked, wondering if she was going to have to have words with her other sister too.

"Yeah...she doesn't believe that my idea of the Joker or Darth Vader being after him are worth much." He said, grinning sneakily at his mother, who laughed.

"Well no honey, I can see where she's coming from there."

"Oh no, just you wait until 'The Dark Knight' comes out, then you'll be sorry you laughed at my suggestion of the Joker being after Wyatt." He said cheerily.

"Oh I will, will I? We'll just see about that young man." She said grinning.

"Yeah, don't yell at her. She came to find me, and she brought grandpa to see me." He said brightly, and she could see that seeing her father had definitely been good for her son.

"Oh, speaking of grandparents, Grams was worried if she was in the good books." She said, and he nodded.

"Yeah, she's alright. At least _she_ said I did a good job..." he said suggestively, smiling a little.

"Oh don't make me feel worse!" Piper wailed, and he laughed.

"Sorry mom." He said, though she could still hear him chuckling in the growing darkness around them.

They stayed there, lying and talking, Piper getting to know things about her son as the room grew steadily darker, and he snuggled steadily closer into her to make them both warmer.

"Favourite animal?" she asked next.

"Cat." Chris answered.

"I thought it might be. Do we get a cat?" she asked curiously, and he nodded.

"Yeah. We call him Whisky. You reckoned he was Wyatt and I's familiar, but I don't reckon he was. For example, if a demon attacked, he would open his eye, miaow at it, then go back to sleep." Chris said fondly.

Piper sniggered.

"Wouldn't surprise me. Kit wasn't much good later on either." She said, remembering her own familiar.

Chris snuggled up to her, and Piper pulled her bed covers up around them to keep them warm.

"Do you want me to go?" Chris asked softly a while later.

Piper shook her head, her arms still cuddling Chris to her.

"Not a chance sweetie pie. Not a chance."

Chris smiled. He had his mom back. That made everything so much more bearable all of a sudden, and the entire thing of being back here and everything seemed a lot more doable now. And having seen his grandfather, and having Paige on his side...it made him feel better than he had done in a very long time. He smiled and hugged his mother to him, and she kissed him lightly on the forehead.

"I love you mommy." He said fondly, closing his eyes.

"I love you too Chris. I love you too." She said fondly, and the two fell asleep, her arms wrapped tightly around her little boy, reunited at last.

**Hello, sorry this has taken so long but I've been busy getting stuff ready to go back to uni.**

**Just another wee Chris/Piper, actually set after the revelation, and involving Victor, as I don't think he appears enough in these fics. And yes, there is a bit of Phoebe bashing, but as I've said before, I think she's horrible the way she treats Chris after she finds out who he really is, and she's also probably my least favourite of the sisters.**

**Right, so there you are, hope you enjoy, think I'll return to Suite Life tomorrow, then maybe back to Season Nine, we'll see. Hope you like, and please review!**


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